Spelling Bee · Wednesday

Spelling Bee Answers for January 17, 2024

The complete word list, every pangram, and the seven letters of the hive for today's NYT Spelling Bee. Hand-checked at release.

Words52
Pangrams1
Points possible231
Center letterA
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published January 17, 2024·3 min read

Hand-checked every word in this list against the live Spelling Bee on the morning of release. Spotted an error?

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Today's seven letters

The center letter is yellow and must appear in every valid word. The six surrounding letters are optional. Every word in the puzzle is at least four letters long.

VI
LAN
YD

Stats & rank thresholds

The Spelling Bee scoring tops out at Queen Bee — the rank you earn for finding every word, including all pangrams. Here are today's point thresholds:

Beginner
0 pts
Moving Up
19 pts
Good
35 pts
Solid
58 pts
Nice
93 pts
Great
116 pts
Amazing
162 pts
Genius
197 pts
Queen Bee
231 pts
Total words
52
Pangrams
1
Possible points
231

Pangrams

A pangram uses all seven letters from today's hive at least once. Each pangram is worth its letter count + a 7-point bonus.

Today's 1 pangram
invalidly +16 pts

The full word list

All 52 valid Spelling Bee solutions for January 17, 2024, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters18 words
allyanalaviddialdivadyadladylaidlainlandlavanaannadanailnananavyvainvial
5 letters17 words
allayannalanvilavailaviandaddydailydallydandydivaninlaylanainaiadnannynavalvalidvilla
6 letters6 words
anallyavidlyinlaidinlandvainlyvandal
7 letters6 words
dandilydaylilyinvalidvalidlyvanillavillain
8 letters3 words
landladyvanillinvillainy
9 letters1 word
invalidly
10 letters1 word
dillydally

Top-scoring words today

The five words worth the most points in today's puzzle — mostly pangrams and long compound words. These alone can push you over the Genius threshold.

invalidly +16dillydally +10landlady +8vanillin +8villainy +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for January 17, 2024 has 52 valid words for a total of 231 possible points. Hitting Queen Bee means finding every single one. The Genius threshold is roughly 85 percent of the total, so today that's about 197 pts.

Stuck on a clue? Jump back to the Spelling Bee hub for strategy tips, the rank-by-rank breakdown, the full archive, and an explainer on how the NYT picks each day's seven letters.

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Recent Spelling Bee puzzles

Catch up on the last week of Spelling Bees. Each link goes straight to that day's full word list.